


Radio Silence

by QueenThayet



Series: President and PM [2]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M, Political AU, alternate POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 10:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13029255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenThayet/pseuds/QueenThayet
Summary: This is what Eames was dealing with while he went silent on Arthur after the picture in The Sun was published.





	Radio Silence

Eames woke up to a ringing phone at 4:00am. “’Lo?” he mumbled sleepily. 

“Mr. Eames, you need to see this,” Stephen Miles’s crisp tones instantly had Eames wide awake. If he were calling at this hour, something was very wrong. 

“What is it?” Eames asked. 

“You need to look at the cover of _The Sun_ right away, then call me back,” Stephen ordered and then hung up the phone. 

Eames rubbed his eyes and climbed out of bed, stumbling out until he found a member of his household staff. “I need a copy of this morning’s _Sun_ , right away please,” he requested. 

Within a few minutes someone ran back up to him and handed him the requested paper. Eames stared at the front page in horror. The headline read “YES, PRIME MINISTER!” and accompanied a grainy picture of Eames on his knees, sucking Arthur’s cock. 

“Fuck!” Eames declared, rubbing his eyes. This was pretty much the opposite of discretion. He sighed and went to go call Stephen back. 

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance you can assure me that’s _not_ you in the picture,” Stephen said without any preamble. 

“Oh it’s definitely me,” Eames admitted. 

“This is unacceptable, Eames. You promised when you ran for leader that you wouldn’t cause any scandals. We took a chance on you, you had some good ideas, and they’ve gone well so far. But this will distract from our entire agenda. You need to fix this.” 

“I can’t control what _The Sun_ prints, Stephen, we do have a free press in this country,” Eames said wearily. 

“You could have refrained from engaging in that behavior where you could be photographed,” Stephen snapped. 

“I don’t understand how anyone got a photograph to begin with because I was with the President of the United States!” Eames hissed back. 

“What?!?” Stephen barked. 

“You heard me, and I’m not going to say it again,” Eames said tightly.

“This is bad, Eames. We need to fix this. I’ll be there in an hour with the rest of the Executive Committee.” Stephen ended the call, leaving Eames listening to a dial tone. 

“Shit!” Eames swore, slamming the phone down. “SHIT!”

He got himself dressed and made a pot of strong tea. He had a feeling he was going to need it.   
***  
Several hours later, that pot of tea was not nearly enough. 

“I’m not making a statement denying the veracity of the picture, that’s absolutely not happening, so stop suggesting it,” Eames said firmly. 

“Eames, we have to make some sort of statement. You can’t just say nothing about it,” Mallorie insisted. 

“How is it going to look if I deny it and they come back with better evidence? Hmm?” Eames pointed out for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“If they had better evidence, they would have printed it,” Stephen argued. 

“We don’t know how anyone even got past the Secret Service to get that picture, are you willing to bet my entire reputation on that?” Eames shot back. “I also don’t appreciate that your automatic reaction is that I should deny this, as if there’s anything wrong with sucking cock.” 

Nadiya made a face at Eames’ crude language. 

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, let’s not be delicate about this. It’s what’s in the bloody picture!” Eames thundered. 

“Eames, darling, then perhaps you should make a statement affirming that it is you and just publically come out,” Mallorie said gently. 

“Do you really think it will be possible for me to do that without revealing who else was in that picture?” Eames asked sarcastically. 

“Possibly, but of course that will leave you open to rumours about the identity of your partner,” Mallorie said pragmatically. “You should talk to him if you think you’re going to come out.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Stephen insisted. “We will spend the next two years dealing with this and all of the good work we’ve done will be completely undermined.” 

“Mr. Eames, you have a phone call.”

***

Eames wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He didn’t want to ruin Arthur’s political career. He honestly didn’t want to spend the next two years dealing with whatever political fall out there might be from coming out. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to spend the next two years being prime minister. He didn’t know how he was going to fix this without letting anyone down. He thought about calling Arthur back to talk it over, Arthur usually had a way of clarifying issues. But Arthur was apparently going to be ridiculously self-sacrificing when it came to Eames, so Eames couldn’t call him. He just had to try to figure out what Arthur would say to him. 

He’d tell Eames to figure out what his goal was, because he needed to know what he wanted before he could figure out what to do. So what did Eames want? Eames wanted to be with Arthur. He knew that much. Did he have to come out to be with Arthur? Maybe. Probably. 

Did he want to be prime minister? He wanted to help people. He wanted to make a difference. Did he have to be prime minister to do that? No, probably not. Stephen was right, regardless of how he handled the situation, this would dominate the political conversation. If he wanted to help people, being prime minister was probably not going to be the best way to do that. Not anymore. 

Okay, so he could step down. He should get Yusuf to take his place. He was clearly the best choice. He’d be brilliant. Okay, so step down, get Yusuf into office. And then go to Arthur. He had a plan. He could do this. He needed to call Yusuf. 

***  
Getting everyone on board with his plan was actually easier than he had expected. Apparently getting having a picture of him sucking cock on the cover of a tabloid made him far less beloved and irreplaceable than he’d previously been. 

“Okay, so the vote’s been confirmed and approved by her majesty? You’ll need to hold a special election for my seat, but it’s safe, it shouldn’t be a problem. And everything’s all set for Yusuf’s announcement?”

“Everything’s all set. It’s fine. This is officially no longer your responsibility. Now go get your man!” Mallorie ordered, giving Eames a hug. 

“Good luck, mate. I still can’t believe this is happening. Tell the President I’ll look forward to his call, yeah?” Yusuf stepped forward to shake Eames’ hand. 

“Good luck to you, Prime Minister,” Eames said, tearing up a little bit. “You’ll be brilliant, I know it. And now, adieu, I have a plane to catch!”

Eames slid into the car that was taking him to the airport, feeling automatically for the ring box in his pocket. He also couldn’t believe this was all happening, but he couldn’t wait.


End file.
